There are people who moved from one place to another on instructions from their daughter in Tokyo via cellphone. Hiroshi (age 67) and Shoko (age 68) Monma, for example, who evacuated to Mizue Sugano's house [in Namie-machi].

The couple's house was in Gongendo District of Namie-machi, less than 10 kilometers from the nuclear plant. In the morning of March 12, the town's emergency radio communication system alerted the residents to evacuate to Tsushima District. The couple went to Mizue's house in Tsushima; Mizue was their acquaintance.

They headed north toward Minami Soma City. Convenience stores and shops were all closed. They found a restaurant that was still open, and ate the only available set meal. 3 hotels turned them down, the 4th agreed to put them up for the night.

１４日夜、福島空港から飛行機に乗り、１５日に東京の長女と合流した。

They hopped on the plane at the Fukushima Airport on March 14 night, and met with their eldest daughter in Tokyo on March 15.

長女の真理子（３６）は地震のあと、両親の携帯を呼び続けた。１１日の地震直後に、一度通じただけで連絡が途絶える。あとはメールだけだった。

Their eldest daughter Mariko (age 36) kept calling the parents' cellphone after the quake. She got connected only once, right after the March 11 quake; after that, only by emails.

しかし、メールの返信も途絶えた１２日の午前８時４３分。

But the last reply to her email was at 8:43AM on March 12.

「お父さんとお母さんの無事を神様にお祈りしています」

"I'm praying for your safety."

テレビやインターネットで、原発事故の新しい情報を必死で探し、両親に送り続けた。

She did her best to look for the latest information on the nuke plant accident from TV and the Internet, and kept sending it to her parents.

At 9PM on March 12 after Reactor 1 had a hydrogen explosion, Mariko heard the experts on TV saying, "Not a problem". "The explosion just blew out the outer walls, and not the kind that would release radioactive material", she wrote to her parents. That turned out to be totally false.

両親が南相馬市に再避難した１３日には「女川原発まで放射能が飛んでいる。そこも危ない。東京に来なさい」。

When her parents evacuated to Minami Soma City on March 13, she wrote to them, "Radioactive fallout even to Onagawa Nuke Plant. It's dangerous there. Come to Tokyo."

そして１４日の正午。「３号機が１１時半に爆発した。早く東京へ」

And at noon on March 14, "Reactor 3 exploded at 11:30. Come to Tokyo ASAP."

父は「そこまで行かなくてもいいじゃないか」と返してきた。真理子は「とにかく早く来なさい！」と叱った。

Her father replied, "I don't think we need to go that far". Mariko scolded her father. "Just do as I say!"

責任のある人たちは、だれも両親を助けてくれようとしなかった。真理子にはその不信感だけが残る。（前田基行）

People in the position of authority did nothing to help her parents. That feeling of distrust is what Mariko is left with. (Reporting by Motoyuki Maeda)

---------------

防護服の男（８） 「ふるさと」歌えない

Men in Protective Clothing (8) Can't Sing a Song About Home

菅野みずえの家に避難した門馬洋（６７）は元高校教師だ。福島第一原発がつくられた４０年前から反原発運動にかかわっていた。

Hiroshi Monma (age 67), who first evacuated to Mizue Sugano's house, used to be a high school teacher. He had also been involved in anti-nuclear movement for 40 years since Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant was built.

It started with 3 residents when they got together in Monma's then-house in Naraha-machi. They continued to appeal the danger of the nuclear plant to the governor of the prefecture and the town's mayor. They had also been meeting with TEPCO once a month for several years, and the monthly meeting was scheduled on March 22.

原告４０４人で隣の福島第二原発について裁判を起こしたが負けた。そのとき仙台高裁の裁判長が述べた言葉を今もはっきり覚えている。

The group of 404 people sued over Fukushima II Nuclear Power Plant and lost. Monma still clearly remembers what the chief justice of the Sendai High Court said.

「反対ばかりしていないで落ち着いて考える必要がある。原発をやめるわけにはいかないだろうから」

"Instead of just blindly protesting against the nuclear power plant, we need to calm down and think. For we probably cannot afford to stop the nuclear power plant."

それから２１年。原発は安全だという幻想はあっけなく崩壊した。

It's been 21 years since the verdict. The illusion that nuclear power plants are safe has been shattered all too easily.

「東京電力の想定がいかに甘いか。そのために多くの人に、どれだけの被害を与えたか。いったいどう責任を取るつもりなのか」

"It shows how optimistic TEPCO's assumption was. Because of that, so many people have suffered so much damage. How is the company going to take responsibility?"

しかし、浪江町が今回の事故で「殺人行為だ」と国や東京電力を非難していることについても、同様に違和感がある。

However, he also feels ill at ease with the accusation of Namie-machi against the national government and TEPCO, saying what they did [or didn't do] was "homicide".

浪江町にも、東北電力の原発建設計画が４０年前からあった。浪江町議会が誘致を求めていたものだった。

There is a plan for Tohoku Electric to build a nuclear power plant in Namie-machi; the plan was first floated 40 years ago. The Namie-machi Town Assembly has been actively inviting the plant.

昨年、町内会の会合で町議が洋を見ながらいった。「原発で浪江町の未来は明るくなる。門馬先生は反対でしょうが……」

Last year, one assemblyman told Hiroshi in a neighborhood meeting. "The nuclear power plant will brighten up the future for Namie-machi. I know you are against it, but..."

７月に一時帰宅したとき線量を測った。家の近くで毎時４マイクロシーベルトあった。

When he returned to his home temporarily in July, he measured the radiation. Near the house, it was 4 microsieverts/hour.

畑には大きな柿の木がある。長女の真理子（３６）が生まれたときに植えたものだ。３００個以上の実をつけた年もあった。

There is a big persimmon tree in the field. He planted the tree when his eldest daughter Mariko (age 36) was born. There were years when the tree had more than 300 persimmon fruits.

About 30 years ago, [his anti-nuke group?] rented a school gym and invited a theatrical company from Tokyo to put on the play about an accident where radioactive materials leaked from a nuclear power plant. It was a story of town's residents running around trying to escape a nuclear accident. It now became the reality.

夫婦は東京都北区の団地に身を落ち着けている。

The husband and wife now lives in a housing development complex in Kita-ku in Tokyo.

家賃は１３万５千円と高いが、長女の家の近くに住むため、そこに決めた。東京電力からもらった仮払金１００万円を家賃の支払いにあてる。

The monthly rent is rather high at 135,000 yen [US$1,774], but they decided on that location to be close to their eldest daughter. 1 million yen temporary advance from TEPCO is being used to pay the rent.

洋は福島にいたころから合唱が好きだった。７月、北区で合唱団の催しがあるのを知り、妻の昌子（６８）と参加してみた。

Hiroshi always liked singing in a chorus when he lived in Fukushima. In July, he knew about a chorus in Kita-ku, and tried it out with his wife Shoko (age 68).

兎（うさぎ）追いしかの山、の「故郷（ふるさと）」を歌った。洋も昌子も途中で歌えなくなった。（前田基行）

They sang "Furusato (Home)". "The mountain that I used to chase a rabbit.." Hiroshi and Shoko could not finish the song. (Reporting by Motoyuki Maeda)

==================================

The song is in formal, written-style Japanese, and it roughly runs like this in English (which just doesn't do justice to the original Japanese):

The mountain that I used to chase a rabbitThe river that I used to fishI still dream of my old homeI cannot forget my old home

How are my parents who still live there?How are my old friends?When it rains, when the wind blowsI always think about my old home

Someday when I achieve my dreamI shall return to my old homeWhere the mountains are greenWhere the water is clear

Well, they have destroyed my "home", too. I don't have a clean, radiation-free place to come home to any more. And they are running around like chickens with heads cut off, promising "decontamination" to people and promising domestic tax hikes to foreign politicians, selling nuke plants, and telling people it's OK to eat contaminated food and forcing school children to attend schools in high radiation areas.

There is no day I am not thinking about Japan and its people. After having lived there I know better the meaning of homeland for Japanese people, and that of green mountains and clear rivers, as the country is/was full of those.It hurts me everytime, I feel powerless. This is a loss for human kind...loss of uncontaminated land and waters, loss of trust on human consciousness related to nature and life, a loss of humanity with regard to concern about human life and life in general...when it happened to URSS we thought that country was a dictatorship, could not deal with the accident in a different way, it was also the first time people faced that...but what about now Japan? What to think now? The only thing I am certain is that if it had happened in my country it would have been the same if not worse, this tells everything about the black hole in which we ended up. Yet nobody cares, most people carry on their lives protected by their expensive illusions. I am near all the people suffering for their/our homeland.

I've uploaded a YouTube video of this song "FURUSATO" with English subtitles (using the translation by EX-SKF above) and Japanese pronunciation written in alphabets.The video has a lot of beautiful landscapes of Japan.If you're interested, please take a look.http://youtu.be/46bSt1wpOws

About my coverage of Japan Earthquake of March 11

I am Japanese, and I not only read Japanese news sources for information on earthquake and the Fukushima Nuke Plant but also watch press conferences via the Internet when I can and summarize my findings, adding my observations.

About This Site

Well, this was, until March 11, 2011. Now it is taken over by the events in Japan, first earthquake and tsunami but quickly by the nuke reactor accident. It continues to be a one-person (me) blog, and I haven't even managed to update the sidebars after 5 months... Thanks for coming, spread the word.------------------This is an aggregator site of blogs coming out of SKF (double-short financials ETF) message board at Yahoo.

Along with commentary on day's financial news, it also provides links to the sites with financial and economic news, market data, stock technical analysis, and other relevant information that could potentially affect the financial markets and beyond.

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